it’seeze blog

7. Evaluate and Refine

19/02/2013 – 11:09

The best thing about the internet is that it’s always changing and anything can be tracked. These are two very big bonuses when it comes to a website: it means you can figure out what’s working and what isn’t, so you can make improvements.

Google Analytics lets you track keywords, websites that links to yours, and the geographic location of visitors to your website. It offers loads of information to analyse whether you’re reaching the people you need to reach, whether they’re finding what they need on your website, and whether they’re actually doing what you want them to do.

We will help you set up your very own Google Analytics account. We also have our very own statistics tool for every it’seeze website which provide at-a-glance information on how many page views you’ve received and where your website visitors are coming from.

You need to be tracking your website’s statistics so you can refine and improve your website and increase the results you want. If your website isn’t working, try something else: don’t give up on your website. The ever-changing nature of the internet means you can tweak and change your website until you find the magic combination that works.

Download your free Marketing Your Website guide

By Adam Thomlinson | Posted in Content | Leave a Comment

6. Prompt Actions

07/02/2013 – 14:26

Your website should not be static. It shouldn’t just sit there, passively letting web surfers absorb information and move on. Your website should do something for you and your business.

Your website should be persuading potential customers to do whatever it is you want them to do. Maybe you want them to contact you. Maybe it’s clicking a ‘buy now’ button on your website. Perhaps it’s printing off a coupon and coming to your store. In short, your website needs to prompt action.

If your website has no call to action, it’s just taking up cyberspace and won’t generate any new business. Make sure your website pushes people to do something.

And whatever action you want people to take, be sure your website steers them to that action easily and simply, with minimal effort needed from them. It should be immediately clear how someone can take action. If the contact form is the action, don’t hide it: put a link to the form on your homepage. Whatever it is you want people to do, make sure there’s no way they can miss it.

Because if they miss it, you’re the one who misses out!

Download your free Marketing Your Website guide

By Adam Thomlinson | Posted in Content | Leave a Comment

5. Build a Following

31/01/2013 – 10:09

Just as you’ve worked hard to build a customer base offline, you shouldn’t neglect the great opportunity you have to build an online following for your business. It’s a great way to generate repeat reading and return visits to your website.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are free places that people use to network with each other, share interesting (but sometimes useless!) information, and just be entertained. Simply connecting your website to your social media profiles is an easy way to build a following. All of this can be done with it’seeze websites, which have social media platform integration to allow your latest Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn updates to feature on your website. New to social media? Don’t worry, we offer free social media training to all our it’seeze customers!

You can also use e-mail newsletters to promote your business. Place a sign-up form on your website and offer special discounts, announcements, and even free offers for your products.

All these ways of connecting with your customers build relationships and lead to sales.

By Adam Thomlinson | Posted in Content | Leave a Comment

4. Help Customers Easily Contact You

24/01/2013 – 16:22

Having a website means your customers can find out about you and have their questions answered at any time of day or night. However, not every question can be answered on your website, and sometimes your product or service may require customers to contact you.

Your website should make it easy for customers to get in touch with you.

Basic contact information such as your phone number should be displayed prominently on all pages of your site. A dedicated contact page can give further information such as your postal address and fax number.

Some customers may not want to use the telephone — it might be outside of business hours, they might want to put questions in writing, or they may just be a little shy. In this situation an online contact form is an easy and effective solution.

The it’seeze content management system gives you the choice of two types of form to make contact with a customer: a general contact form — which allows the customer to enter their name, e-mail address, telephone number, and message — and the more advanced form builder. Form builder allows you to create an entirely bespoke form to capture specific details, allow the customer to upload files, and more.

The best thing about an online form is you can gather whatever information you need and direct it to whoever in your organisation should respond to it, while also building up a database of potential customers for marketing.

By Adam Thomlinson | Posted in Content | Leave a Comment

3. Keep Your Content Fresh

18/01/2013 – 14:31

In 1995, the first ever web content management system was launched, giving non-technical business users the ability to update their websites by easily creating and editing content through their browser. Content management systems have now advanced to provide optimised solutions for managing, designing and editing website content, and to include third party integration; and this power can easily be harnessed by your business.

Here are a couple of reasons why keeping your website content fresh can boost your business:

Google and other search engines love fresh content

Search engines love fresh content. We wrote before about the importance of optimising your website for search engines, and frequently updating your website content means more for search engines to ﬁnd. It also shows search engines that your website is active and up-to-date.

Develop followers

Placing new content on your website, such as current information about the products and services your prospective customers may be looking for, will more than likely result in customers returning to your website, and buying from you. You can also develop followers by using social media platforms and blogs.

Teach and share your expertise

Share your insights, opinions and expertise in your industry or field. Teach customers how to use your products or show how your services solve their problems. In short, create content to show why you’re good at what you do.

Share your latest news

News is a great way to have fresh content to your website and encourage readers to visit your website again and again. At it’seeze we’re constantly produce content about the new features and tools that make our content management system even better — all which are free of charge to all it’seeze customers! Keep your website visitors updated with your latest news — it will ultimately lead to more sales.

By Adam Thomlinson | Posted in Content | Leave a Comment

2. Start Talking To Google

09/01/2013 – 14:54

Google is not just a multi-billion dollar company and amazing search engine: google has now become a verb — to search online.

Nearly 85% of all purchases are now made by searching online, with the majority of those searches being through Google. Millions of people each day go to Google to ﬁnd products, articles, photos, news, and more. Some of those people are looking for the product or service you offer.

As a business owner with a product to sell or service to offer you need your website and business to be listed in Google’s search results. (Note: All it’seeze websites are submitted to the major search engines — Google, Bing, and Yahoo — and also the Open Directory Project, Dmoz.)

To determine how a site ranks in its search results, Google uses mathematical algorithms which are based on a number of ranking factors, including the presence of relevant content and keywords in your website text, links from other websites, and over 200 other unique signals.

You can help boost your website’s ranking in search engine results by taking advantage of these factors. It’s a process called Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

The it’seeze editing system has a range of SEO features, including the ability to set up headings, alt text, page titles and meta descriptions. All it’seeze websites have an XML sitemap, which tells search engines about the pages on your site, and our customers are provided with a guide to SEO which includes help on how to add your business to Google Places in order to provide additional exposure on Google.

SEO is a big subject, and there are many other factors that can help improve your ranking, but these are some of the key things to help your website in Google. Optimising your website for search engines is an important concept to effectively market your business online.

By Adam Thomlinson | Posted in SEO | Leave a Comment

1. Get a Website You Can Control

13/12/2012 – 11:48

We talk to a lot of business owners who already have websites and there’s one frequent complaint: they can’t edit or change their own website. They don’t have either the power, the skill, or the access to make changes and updates, and this results in them having to pay someone else to do it, which costs money and time.

You should have the keys to your own website

…meaning you should have both the access and ability to edit and change your own website whenever you want – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from anywhere in the world with internet connection.

The easiest way to get control of your website is with a simple content management system (CMS). A CMS gives you the power to add new pages, upload images and videos, change text, create mailing lists, integrate social media platforms, and much more.

If another software system prompts stress and worry, never fear: if you can use Microsoft Word, you can use it’seeze. Like Microsoft Word or any other popular word processor, it’seeze allows you to make text bold or italic, resize it and align it.

The primary reason you need to have the keys to your own website (through a great CMS) is that you – not your web developer – can change your website whenever you want. You’re not waiting or relying on someone else to make changes to your website. You’re not double-checking to make sure that someone made the changes and did them right. The power is in your hands!

We also know that some people simply don’t want to spend time changing their own website. Maybe you don’t have the time to maintain your website yourself. You want to focus on doing what you do best – your business expertise – and want to leave the rest to professionals. No worries! We offer professional packages from your local it’seeze consultant so you can keep doing what you do best.

At the end, however, you still have the option to change your website yourself if you want to.

By Adam Thomlinson | Posted in Content | Leave a Comment

Three Key Characteristics of Great Business Websites

28/11/2012 – 14:50

At it’seeze we think websites are the best and most affordable, yet often underused marketing tool for small- and medium-sized businesses. it’seeze websites are designed to help small- and medium-sized businesses make the web work for them; but the web can only work for businesses if their website is creative, flexible and affordable.

Creative

An affordable website shouldn’t mean an ugly website. You should be proud of your website — proud enough to make it your number one marketing tool. It should be creative, attractive, appealing and representative of who you and your business are. It should give customers conﬁdence and not leave people rolling their eyes at outdated styles.

Flexible

A pretty website is nothing if it isn’t flexible. If all you have is eye candy, you’re wasting your time. We wholeheartedly and fundamentally believe that your website should do something for your business. A lot of websites have fancy graphics and music, but these websites are useless if you can’t ﬁnd information and accomplish something. Small- and medium-sized businesses can’t afford and don’t have time to have websites that don’t deliver.

Affordable

Custom web design usually costs thousands of pounds. Some major web development companies charge thousands just to start talking. Many charge a lot more. That’s hardly affordable for most small- and medium-sized businesses. We think web design should be affordable, that’s why it’seeze websites start at just £150 plus £20 per month.

What are the seven keys to successful business websites?

1. Get a website you can control
2. Start talking to Google
3. Keep your content fresh
4. Help customers easily contact you
5. Build a following
6. Prompt actions
7. Evaluate and reﬁne

Over the course of the next 8 weeks we will go into more detail and look at each of the above points to make sure you get the most out of your website!

By Adam Thomlinson | Posted in Content | Leave a Comment

Why Logos Matter

27/09/2012 – 12:28

OK, so you are starting up your own shiny new business, you’ve got the finance in place, the brand new office laptop, you’re good to go… now what? You need to bring in the business, let people know you exist. The first thing you need to do here is to establish your image. One of the best ways of doing this is to have a logo. This brands your business, gives it an identity and also builds the credibility of the business. It should be instantly recognisable. It is also important to keep the logo simple and easy to read – a fussy design or illegible text will lose you business! It is also necessary for a logo to be used on print and web, so a good logo needs to be designed in a program that allows for scaling for big and small usage.

The Wow Factor: it needs to catch your eye
KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid; don’t over complicate it
Relevant: a good logo will aptly represent your company
Stands the test of time: your logo needs to have a good design that doesn’t ‘date’

There are some company logos that are very successful. Here are just a few: